Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Age of Blazing Flames
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*
Infermer had sunk into darkness. The city's light sources, including the streetlamps, had been destroyed by the earthquake's aftershocks and ceased functioning. Every household had extinguished their lights and evacuated, leaving people scattered about, relying on torches.
"Hoo..."
Leya staggered over and leaned her back against a collapsed fence. The earthquake had finally stopped. The oppressive pressure and presence that had dominated the harbor were no longer distinctly felt. Leya gripped and released the hilt of her sword almost convulsively as she thought.
"It's not gone."
The dragon's resurrection... If such a thing were possible, if it had truly already happened, then this silence was like the calm before the storm.
As the pressure that had churned the air dissipated, the humans who had fled through the streets in terror began to regain their composure bit by bit.
There was no time to savor the peace. Leya ran toward the harbor. All the elves must have felt it, but at the very least, there was something she could do. She had to find Aynad.
The most trustworthy general among the five elven generals, the king's right-hand man. She had to find him. He and the king could calm this crisis.
-Kyaoooo!!!
"What!!!"
Leya abruptly halted and gripped her sword hilt. At the mouth of the alley, atop the fence, a grotesque monster tilted its head as it peered down at her.
Its yellow eyes met Leya's gaze.
Bat-like ears protruding widely, nearly the size of a human head; pallid blue skin; yellowed pupils without irises... The monster, clinging to the fence with a hunched back, reeked of the deep sea's brine.
"Vampire..."
"Kyaruk?"
The creature kept tilting its head before suddenly grinning. Its large mouth tore open horizontally, revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth.
-Thwack!
-Clang!
Without any warning, it lunged at Leya. Had she been a civilian, that single strike would have torn her body apart and killed her. Leya drew her sword in an instant, blocking its claws and retreating backward.
-Clang! Clang!
"Kyaaaak!!!"
Immense strength and speed. The monster relentlessly swung its claws, pressing Leya. She flattened her body to dodge its hand and slashed upward with her sword.
-Skreen!
"Kyaaaak!!!!"
Its right arm flew through the air. Leya's hair rippled like waves. She rolled sideways and swung her sword.
-Splash!
No matter how quick the monster's reactions, they couldn't surpass those of an elf swordmaster honed over long years. Leya's blade disrupted the moonlight. With a flash of azure light, the creature's head rolled across the ground.
-Sling... clack.
Leya assumed her stance and sheathed her sword. At the same moment, the monster's body crumbled. Biting her lip, she kicked off the fence and leaped up.
Kicking off the fence and stepping onto the opposite one, Leya twisted her waist mid-air, propelling herself onto the roof of a half-collapsed building.
-Thud.
Lowering her stance, she scanned her surroundings. Her ears perked up, gathering sounds amid the surrounding chaos.
-Kyaaaak!!!
"It's a monster!!!
"Help!! Help us!!!!
"Vampires. Franzrits... Bat bastards!"
From beneath Infermer's harbor, vampires and corpses were rising! Far off, aboard the elven fleet, shipboard battles raged against the swarming vampires.
The elven navy, yet to reorganize after the earthquake, was thrown into chaos by the sudden ambush. Meanwhile—
The assault extending from Infermer's port was ravaging the undefended harbor. This, she hadn't anticipated.
"Not from the inland, but an attack from the sea?'
The elven navy's maritime combat prowess was the world's strongest. Thus, Leya hadn't even considered an assault on the harbor from the sea.
"Then... the dragon's resurrection is the vampires' doing...?'
At that moment, from one corner of the roof, a hand covered in black fur appeared. Soon, a monster emerged, a human arm clutched in its mouth.
"Grulp??"
My king, forgive me. Leya gripped her sword hilt as she thought. In this situation, as the Wild Princess, she should have stayed by the king's side, but the elven navy couldn't defend the inland. If street fighting broke out, half-elves like her had to step up.
-Skreen.
The monster's head split in two. It rolled its eyes back and plummeted to the ground. The city's damage was already beyond control. Vampires and monsters spreading from the port were devouring the city.
-Kyaoooo!!!!
From a nearby building, she saw a human being torn apart by a monster's claws. The creature buried its face in the human's body and greedily sucked the blood.
Leya's expression twisted in disgust. Gripping her sword hilt, she leaped into the night sky.
-Rumble.
Far off, vibrations echoed once more.
*
A blood-soaked snowy expanse unfolded. Fernandez slowly looked around. The basin, surrounded by massive crags, was blanketed in deep snow.
"The mental world..."
Fernandez cautiously brushed away the snow at his feet. What he had thought was rock underfoot was smooth, dressed bricks. Bricks? His hand, digging into the snow, felt something eerie.
"Tombstones."
They were tombstones lying on the ground. Fernandez swept the snow from the floor with his foot. The ground was filled with tombstones. The falling snow from the sky was stained red by the blood seeping from below.
-Whooo...
Far away, at the center of this snowy plain, a massive stele stood. The tombstones on the ground lay facing it. Fernandez advanced toward the center of the snowfield.
-Crunch, crunch.
Bloodied snow scattered with his footsteps. Some tombstones stood upright, others half-broken. Red blood oozed from every stone. A woman in a shroud embraced the giant stele.
"...Impertinent human."
She had skin like pure white snow, shining radiantly. She glared at Fernandez with blue eyes. Her golden hair, like rippling wheat fields, scattered in the wind.
"Do not... disturb me. I am weary."
"You are dead."
"I know. No need to repeat it. I am a dragon. How could I not know?"
She gazed at the stele with a sullen expression. Crude reliefs were densely carved upon it.
-Knight meeting the dragon.
-Knight slaying the undead.
-Knight butchering the swamp monster.
-Knight repelling the hill giant.
-Knight laughing amid crowds.
-Solemn coronation.
-Knight facing the legion in black armor.
-Knight weeping at the dragon's feet.
-Knight building the dragon's tomb.
It was a pictorial chronicle of Knight King Dane's life. The woman caressed the faintly weathered reliefs and smiled sadly.
"Dane, did that little one die smiling?"
"...Yes."
"Perhaps that's why I awoke—to hear those words. Did that child's kingdom become the sturdy power he wished for?"
"The Kingdom of Dane has become a core force in the Eastern Kingdom Alliance. But it is not free from the Empire's influence."
"Empire? Ah, yes...シャル... That child existed. His kingdom was there. So it ended up that way."
The woman giggled as she looked at Fernandez. Inescapable weariness and sorrow gleamed in her eyes.
"Why have I awakened? I was surely slain by the burial church's hands."
"Necromancers tried to raise and command you."
"Me? Hoho, foolish."
Yes, foolish. Fernandez nodded. A soul over a thousand and several hundred years old, yet so robust. Could mortals dare wield such a being with their magic?
The binding spell entwined on Fernandez's hand was merely a stopgap. The woman smiled as she beheld it.
"A clever child. Are you... a priest?"
"Now, I am Beitasser's inquisitor."
"Ahh. Beitasser. That one existed too. Yes. How fares Caradphelin? Is he still the same?"
"He guards Sadarkelia's seal. For now."
Since the War in Heaven, only two dragons officially survived. The Celestial Dragon Caradphelin. The Scaled Empress Sadarkelia. Caradphelin had ascended as a minor god of the Holy Pantheon of Good Gods, while Sadarkelia became one of the five great archdemons.
The woman's eyes narrowed in anger and sorrow.
"Sadarkelia. That wench is truly... regrettable."
Suddenly, her beautiful brows furrowed.
"By the way, who is calling me like this? Until then, I thought you merely a young human wielding necromancy, but now I hear a rather familiar voice."
"Elf Serpent King, Gaimern."
"Gaimern... That old monster is still hale. Your humans must have great and deep troubles. Why have you come even to my gravesite? Isn't their domain the sea?"
"Your tomb was buried underground. An elven harbor rose above it."
"...? How did elves appear on human territory? What are the kingdom's knights doing now?"
"That's not all. Vampires are also involved in your resurrection."
"Vampires... Vampires. Foolish humans. So, this area has fallen into those bastards' hands, is that it?"
Shaking her head, she rose to her feet. She slowly stepped back from the stele, treading the blood-soaked snowfield.
-Crunch.
The wind scattered, pushing away the snow touching her steps. The tombstones of knights fallen on the battlefield emerged beneath the snow. She approached Fernandez.
"You must want something from me. Priest of the human god. Young human."
"Will you help?"
"If you tell me your identity. You are no mere 'young' child. Not just your knowledge, but your soul as well. Your soul's age is profound compared to the body you possess."
Fernandez fell into thought. Could he trust this dragon? But his deliberation was brief. He soon looked at the dragon and spoke.
"I made a deal with Beitasser. From eighty years in the future, I returned to the past."
"You turned back the Second Realm?"
"For the horizontal world, I recreated the material world."
"Amusing. How amusing. I thought the world a dream... Hoho, but the world belongs to your dream."
The dragon extended her graceful hand and brushed the snow from Fernandez's shoulder. The dragon's hand was cold. Placing her finger on his forearm, she said.
"Call me Avelesas. I permit the magic you hold."
Her name engraved onto the binding spell coiled around Fernandez's right arm, and dark red mana surged wildly. Power finally infused the crumbling spell.
A vow bearing her name. A dragon's soul rivaled that of a lesser deity. This was mana inscribed with her own spirituality. Fernandez felt strength filling the Bronze Throne.
"My name is Fernandez, Fernandez Cerned."
"Fernandez. Fernandez. I shall remember your name in my garden as well. Now, let us show them."
Bending at the waist, she kissed the back of Fernandez's hand and said.
"Why you young humans are the masters of the continent."
Since the War in Heaven, dragons, elves, and dwarves had vanished. But that didn't mean the world became welcoming to humans.
Demons continued to deceive and tempt humans even after. Heaven merely sought to harvest human faith, and from jungles and swamps, forests and wastelands, deserts and mountains, humans had to fight nature and monsters.
Yet humans were the continent's overlords. Despite short lifespans and frail bodies. They advanced, burning their souls and lives. Never stopping, slowly, weakly, falling, yet step by step.
Thus, the "Age of Blazing Flames."
And thus, the Human Era.
Let us show them why this era is so named.
The guardian dragon of humanity smiled, her blue eyes gleaming.
In that moment, Fernandez absurdly found himself, just like in his childhood days, liking her smile.